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Jlbrdham Lincoln 

cThe Ideal Christian 



E. F. RUDEEN 





LOS JINQELES. CALIFORNIA 
1921 



^ 



Abraham Lincoln, the Ideal 
Christian 



To the teachings of Lincohi and his spirit 
of true Christian worldism, we must cling 
unswervingly if this government of ours is 
to endure as the great democratic nation of 
the earth. We are at the present time un- 
dergoing a critical test and it is the duty of 
all good citizenship to know Lincoln, to 
understand him, and to keep alive the fer- 
vent inspiration of justice and liberty he 
gave to the world. 

Volumes have been written and much said 
about Lincoln the lawyer, Lincoln the citi- 
zen, Lincoln the story-teller, Lincoln the 
statesman, Lincoln the friend of man and 
other phases of his remarkable character, 
and while some attention has been given to 
his religious side, it has been comparatively 
meager, and has not received the promi- 
nence it deserves, for he was '''Abraham 
Lincoln the ideal Christian, and so he came 
from prairie cabin to capitol. One fair ideal 
led our chieftain on, forevermore he burned 
to do his deed with the fine stroke and ges- 
ture of a king. He built the rail pile as he 
built the state, pouring his splendid strength 
through every blow, the conscience of him: 
testing every stroke to make his deed the 
mea'sure of a man. So came the captain 
with the mighty heart, and when the step 
of earthquake shook the house, wresting 



*For further information regarding Lin- 
coln's religious faith, see Williarn J. John- 
son's "Abraham Lincoln the Christian." 
3 



the rafters from their ancient hold', he held 
the ridgepole up and spiked again the raft- 
ers of the home. He held his place; held 
on through blame and faltered not at praise, 
and when he fell in a whirlwind, he went 
down as when a kingly cedar green with 
boughs goes down with a great shout upon 
the hills and leaves a lonesome place against 
the sky. 

Some years ago I happened to stroll into 
a salvation Army store and discovered, 
among a heap of old books that had been 
sent in to be sold to the poor, a beautifully 
bound volume entitled "The Story Life of 
Lincoln." I asked them the price of the 
book. They said Five cents. Of course I 
bought it, and as I read this book I was 
gripped with the thought of the strange 
comparison in the lives of the Savior of the 
world and the Savior of our country; so 
with this thought in mind, with the help of 
the Bible and this book, I prepared this 
composition entitled Abraham Lincoln, the 
Ideal Christian. 

It is only natural for ambitious and wide 
awake people to have certain ideals to look 
up to and copy from, such as great states- 
men, social and religious leaders. This is 
called "Hero worship" and is good and 
proper providing said ideals are Christ-like 
in character, because in Him we have the 
only absolutely perfect ideal; by the shed- 
ding of whose blood we are redeemed, and, 
in proportion as we measure up to His 
standard, to that proportion can we say as 
did St. Paul, "Be ye followers of me even 
as I am a follower of Christ." 

It has been said of Abraham Lincoln, the 
humble backwoodsman who rose to be the 
world's greatest governor and emancipator, 
tliat he was the most perfect Christian ideal 
outside of Bible characters. Too often our 
4 



great leaders limit themselves to a certain 
nation or race, but this cannot be said of 
the two characters from whom we will try 
and draw some delightful and interesting 
comparisons. 

Jesus was a Jew, but more than a Jew; 
Lincoln was an American, but more than an 
American. They were what the Bible calls 
"true Israelites" and that includes all people 
who worship Abraham's God, regardless of 
nationality or color. 

Lincoln resembled his Master not only in 
Spirit and personality, but the events of 
their lives were strikingly parallel. I say 
Lincoln resembled his Master. I repeat this 
because I do not want it thought that I am 
trying to put him on a par with our Savior. 

To start with; they were of very humble 
birth. Jesus, as we all know, was born in 
Bethlehem's stable; Lincoln was born in a 
very humble log cabin. His cousin Dennis 
Hanks tells of Nancy's baby boy in these 
v/ords: 

"Tom and Nancy lived on a farm about 
two miles from us, where Abe was born. I 
ricoUect Tom comin' over to our house one 
cold mornin' in Feb'ruary and sayin' kind o' 
slow, 'Nancy's got a boy baby.' 

"Mother got flustered an' hurried up 'er 
work to go over to look after the little fel- 
ler, but I didn't have nothin' to wait fur, so 
I cut an' run the hull two mile to see my 
new cousin. 

"You bet I was tickled to death. Babies 
wasn't as common as blackberries in the 
woods o' Kentucky. Mother come over and 
washed him an' put a yaller flannel petticoat 
on him, an' cooked some dried berries with 
wild honey fur Nancy, an' slicked things up 
an' went home. An' that's all the nuss'n 
either of 'em got. ... 

"I rolled up in a b'ar skin an' slep' by the 
5 



fire-place that night, so's I could see the 
little feller when he cried and Tom had to 
get up an' tend him.. Nancy let me hold 
him purty soon. Folks often ask me if Abe 
was a good-looking baby. Well, now, he 
looked just like any other baby, at fust — 
like red cherry pulp squeezed dry. An' he 
didn't improve none as he growed older. 
Abe never was much fur looks. I ricoUect 
how Tom joked about Abe's long legs when 
he was toddlin' 'round the cabin. He 
growed out o' his clothes fastern's Nancy 
could make 'em." 

y\ll that the Bible says concerning Jesus 
between the age of twelve and thirty is that 
he increased in stature and wisdom and in 
the favor of God and man. This also applies 
to Lincoln. He increased in stature. Be- 
fore he was twenty years of age he had 
reached his full height of six feet four inch- 
es. He also increased in wisdom. Although 
his schooling did not amount to as much as 
one year all told, yet he read and mastered 
all the books of value he could secure, using 
the Bible as his chief text book, and of that 
book he said, "Take all of the Bible upon 
reason that you can, and the balance upon 
faith, and you will live and die a better and 
happier m.an." But much of his learning 
was obtained in the University of Hard 
Knocks. 

He was a favorite among his fellow-men 
on account of the feats of 'his superior phy- 
sical strength and good humor, and his lofty 
character and childlike faith merited the 
favor of God. Now as regards to their per- 
sonal appearance. There is no authentic 
likeness of Jesus on record. The pictures 
that we see of Him are only the result of 
some painter's imagination, who often rep- 
resent Him as a very handsome and effimi- 
nate person. But according to the Bible He 
6 



resembled Lincoln in personal appearance; 
for Isaiah says, He hath no form nor come- 
liness, and when we shall see Him there is 
no beauty that we should desire Him. But 
there were times when their charming per- 
sonalities transfigured them into real beau- 
ty. We read of Jesus taking His disciples 
up into a mountain to pray, and as he 
prayed, the fashion of His countenance was 
altered and His garments become white and 
glistening. We have the testimony of a 
man who was present at the Cooper Insti- 
tute, New York City., when Lincohi deliv- 
ered that great speech against slavery, and 
he tells of his transfiguration. 

"When Lincoln rose to speak" he says, "I 
was greatly disappointed. He was tall, tall 
— oh, how tall! — and so angular and awk- 
ward that I 'had, for an instant, a feeling of 
pity for so ungainly a man. His clothes 
were black an dill-fitting, badly wrinkled — 
as if they had been jammed carelessly into 
a small trunk. His bushy head, with stiff 
black hair thrown back, was balanced on a 
long and lean headstalk, and when he raised 
his hands in an opening gesture, I noticed 
that they were very large. He began in a 
low tone of voice — as if he were used to 
speaking outdoors, and was afraid of speak- 
ing too loudly. He said, 'Mr. Cheerman' 
instead of 'Mr. Chairman' and employed 
many other words with an old-fashioned 
pronunciation. I said to myself: 

"'Old fellow, you won't do; it's all very 
well for the wild west, but this will never 
go down in New York.' 

"But pretty soon he began to get into his 
subject; he straightened up, made regular 
and grcaeful gestures; his face lighted as 
with an inward fire; the whole man was 
transfigured. I forgot his clothes, his per- 
sonal appearance, his individual peculiari- 
7 



ties. Presently forgetting myself, I was on 
my feet with the rest, yelling like a wild 
Indian, cheering this wonderful man. In 
the closing parts of his arumgent, you 
could hear the gentle sizzling of the gas 
burners. When he reached a climax the 
thunders of applause were terrific. It was 
a great speech. 

"When I came out of the hall, my face 
glowing with excitement and my frame all 
aquiver, a friend with his eyes aglow asked 
me what I thought of Abe Lincoln, the rail- 
splitter. I said: 

"He's* the greatest man since St. Paul. 
And I think so yet." 

Their occupation before entering public 
life was the same. Jesus was a carpenter; 
Lincoln was sometimes called a carpenter 
on account of building f^at boats, but the 
title of rail-splitter is associated with his 
name even to this day. Their method of 
teaching was the same, as they could reveal 
great truths by the telling of simple stories. 
The Bible says that Jesus taught chiefly by 
parables (or stories) ; Lincoln was called 
"the champion story teller of the Capital." 
They encouraged the art of debate by mak- 
ing it clean that a person who believes in 
the theory he teaches is anxious to defend 
the same by debate. As the Bible says, "Be 
ready to give to every man who asketh you 
a reason of the hope that is in you. Only 
those who advocate a false theory refuse to 
discuss the same for fear their falsehood be 
brought to light, as the pro-slavery people 
of Lincoln's time who taught that slavery 
was of divine origin. This was taught in 
most of the churches of the South, also 
many in the North. But Lincoln said that 
slavery was hellish and challenged to debate 
the subject with his opponents. The chal- 
lenge was reluctantlv accepted which result- 
' 8 



ed in the celebrated Douglas and Lincoln 
debates. These debates had their good ef- 
fect as they gave the people an opportunity 
to hear both sides of the question and de- 
cide for themselves. 

These tw^o Godly men did not belong to 
any earthly religious organization, because 
of the many man-made forms that the mem- 
bers were required* to comply with, but they 
did belong to the heavenly church whose 
qualifications for membership Jesus said 
was to love God supremely and your neigh- 
bor as yourself. 

Jesus often taught in the Jewish syna- 
gogues, and some of his best friends were of 
the Pharisees, but the majority of them 
hated him. 

Lincoln believed in Church organization 
and even while president of a war-torn 
country when its people demanded every 
minute of his time, he found time to be a 
regular attendant of the New York Avenue 
Presbyterian Church, not only the two serv- 
ices on Sunday, but also the Wednesday 
night prayer meeting. "Blessed be God who 
in this great trial giveth us the Churches." 
This very expressive utterance, made in re- 
sponse to a greeting of a company of min- 
isters, indicates Mr. Lincoln's ardent affec- 
tion for the Christian Church in all its 
branches, and his high appreciation of its 
influence for good. There are many simi- 
lar declarations by Mr. Lincoln of the same 
import and equally clear and emphatic. And 
yet ardent as was 'his attachment to the 
Church, unequivocal as was his belief in its 
divine origin, faithful as was his attendance 
upon its services, liberal as were his contri- 
butions to its work, and steadfast as was 
his purpose to live in accordance with its 
requirements and teachings, Mr. Lincoln 
never became a Church member. There 
9 



were two things either one of which was in 
itself sufficient to prevent him from uniting 
with the Church. The first was: 

Lengthy and objectionable creeds. Re- 
specting this Hon. H. C. Deming says: "I 
am here reminded of an impressive remark 
which he made to me and which I shall 
never forget. He said he had never united 
himself with any church* because he found 
difficulty in giving his assent without men- 
tal reservation to the long, complicated 
statement of Christian doctrine which 
characterize their articles of belief and con- 
fessions of faith. 'Whenever any church,' 
he said, 'will enscribe over its altar as its 
sole qualification for membership the Sa- 
vior's condensed statement of the substance 
of both law and gospel. Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy 
soul and with all thy mind, and thy neigh- 
bor as thyself,' that church will I join with 
all my heart and all my soul." 

While some church members would glad- 
ly have accepted him on the strength of this 
statement, the majority would have rejected 
him. 

The following shows how the churches 
of Springfield, Hlinois, his home town, op- 
posed him: 

Mr. Newton Bateman, Superintendent of 
Public Instruction for the State of Illinois, 
occupied a room (in the State Capitol) ad- 
joining and opening into the Executive 
Chamber (which had been placed at Mr. 
Lincoln's disposal). Frequently this door 
was open during Mr. Lincoln's receptions; 
and throughout the seven months or more 
of his occupation, Mr. Bateman saw him 
nearly every day. Often when Mr. Lincoln 
was tired he closed his door against all in- 
trusion, and called Mr. Bateman in his room 
for a quiet talk. 

10 



"On one of these occasions Mr. Lincoln 
took up a book containing a careful canvass 
of the city of Springfield in which he lived, 
showing the candidate for whom each citi- 
zen had declared it his intention to vote in 
the approaching election. Mr. Lincoln's 
friend had, doubtless at his own request, 
placed the result of this canvass in his 
hands. It was toward the close of October, 
and only a few days before the election. 
Calling Air. Bateman to a seat at his side, 
having previously locked all the doors, he 
said: 

"Let us look over this book. I wish par- 
ticularly to see how the ministers of Spring- 
field are going to vote." 

The leaves were turned, one by one, and 
as the names were examined, Mr. Lincoln 
frequently asked if this one and that were 
not a minister, or an elder, or the member 
of such or such a church, and sadly ex- 
pressed his surprise on receiving an affirma- 
tive answer. In that manner they went 
through the book, and then he closed it and 
sat silently for some minutes regarding a 
m.emorandum in pencil which lay before 
him. At length he turned to Mr. Bateman 
with a face full of sadness and said: 

" 'Here are twenty-three ministers of dif- 
ferent denominations and all of them are 
against me but three; and here are a great 
many prominent members of the churches, 
a very large majority of .whom are against 
me. Mr. Bateman, I am not a Christian 
(meaning church member). God knows I 
would be one — but I have carefully read the 
Bible, and I do not so understand this 
book;' and he drew forth from his bosom a 
pocket New Testament. 

" 'These, men well know,' he continued, 
'that I am for freedom in the Territories, 
freedom everywhere as far as the Constitu- 
II 



tion and laws will permit, and that my oppo- 
nents are for slavery. They know this, and 
yet, with this book in their hands, in the 
light of which human bondage cannot live a 
moment, they are going to vote against me. 
I do not understand it at all.' 

"Here Mr. Lincoln paused — paused for 
long minutes — his features surcharged with 
emotion. Then he rose and walked up and 
down the room in the efifort to retain or re- 
gain his self-possession. Stopping at last, 
he said, with a trembling voice and his 
cheeks wet with tears: 

" T know -there is a God, and that He 
hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm 
coming, and I know that His hand is in it. 
If he has a place and work for me — and I 
think He has — I believe I am ready. I am 
nothing, but truth is everything. I know I 
am right because I know that liberty is 
right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ is 
God. I have told them that 'a house divided 
against itself cannot stand,' and Christ and 
reason say the same; and they will find it 
so. Douglas don't care whether slavery is 
voted up or voted down, but God cares, and 
humanity cares, and I care; and with God's 
help I shall not fail. I may not see the end. 
but it will come, and I shall be vindicated; 
and these men will find that they have not 
read their. Bibles aright." 

Great credit is due those three ministers 
out of the twenty-three who stood true to 
principal. Jesus and Lincoln were great 
champions for the wronged and oppressed. 
The Publicans of Jesus' time were not nec- 
essarily ungodly men. They were hated by 
the Jews chiefly because they collected the 
tax from the Jews for the Roman govern- 
ment under whose rule they were. Jesus 
defends the publicans with this story 
12 



"Two men went up into the temple to 
pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a 
Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed 
thus with liimself: 'God, I thank Thee that 
I am not as other men are, extortioners, un- 
just, adulterers, or even as this Publican. 1 
fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I 
possess.' And the Publican standing afar 
oft", would not lift up so much as his eyes 
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, say- 
ing: 'God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I 
tell you, this man went down to his house 
justitied rather than the other; for 'every 
one that exalteth himself shall be abased; 
and he that humbleth himself shall be ex- 
alted.' " 

This publican was a godly man, and his 
humble prayer of "God be merciful to me a 
sinner" is the heart cry of every earnest 
Christian when he realizes how far short he 
comes to attaining Christian perfection, and 
whose only hope is the cleansing blood of 
Jesus. 

A great majority of the church members 
of Lincoln's time held that public entertain- 
ment could not be consistent with a godly 
life and so denounced that profession. We_ 
read of how Lincoln appeared in behalf of 
Jefferson the actor. 

Where he saw injustice he was quick to 
offer his services to the wronged party. A 
pleasant example of this is related by Jos- 
eph Jefferson in his "Autobiography." In 
1839 Jefferson, then a lad of ten years, trav- 
eled through Illinois with his father's theat- 
rical company. After playing at Chicago, 
Quincy, Peoria and Pekin, the company 
went in the Fall to Springfield, where the 
sight of the Legislature tempted the elder 
Jefferson and his partner to remain through- 
13 



out the season. But there was no theatre. 
Not to be daunted they built one. But 
hardly had they completed it before a reli- 
gious revival broke out in the town, and the 
church people turned all their influence 
against the theatre. So effectually did they 
work that a law was passed by the munici- 
pality imposing a license which was practic- 
ally prohibitory. 

"In the midst of our trouble," says Jef- 
ferson, "a young lawyer called on the man- 
agers. He had heard of the injustice, and 
offered, if they would place the matter in 
his hands, to have the license taken off, de- 
clarnig that he only desired to see fair play, 
and he would accept no fee whether he 
failed or succeeded. The young lawyer be- 
gan his harangue. He handled the subject 
with tact, skill' and humor, tracing the his- 
tory of the drama from the time when Thes- 
pis acted in a cart, to the stage of today. 
He illustrated his speech with a number of 
anecdotes, and kept the council in a roar of 
laughter. His good- humor prevailed, and 
the exorbitant tax was taken off. 
"The young lawyer was Lincoln." 
Some public entertainers, as well as some 
preachers, use their talents to glorify God, 
but those who use them otherwise will suf- 
fer the torments of Hell. There is a hell 
more deadly than fire and brimstone, and 
deeper than the bowels of the earth. That 
place is in the soul of sinful people. What 
is so low and degrading as sin? The Bible 
calls it a bottomless pit. There is also a 
heaven more beautiful than jasper walls and 
streets of gold and higher than to the most 
distant star. That place, Jesus said, is in 
the soul of loving people. What is so high 
and uplifting as love? That these two men 
were very humble is shown by their love 
and regard for little children. When moth- 
14 



ers brought their children to Jesus to be 
blessed of Him, His stern disciples drove 
them away, thinkin.<T their time was too val- 
uable to be taken up with such petty cases, 
but when Jesus saw it He strongly rebuked 
the disciples and said: "Let the little chil- 
dren come unto mxe,*and forbid them not. 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
When in New York Lincoln visited one of 
the charitable institutions of the city, 
know as the "Five Points Home of Indus- 
tr}^" and the Superintendent of the Sabbath 
School there wrote this account of the 
event: 

"One Sunday morning I saw a tall re- 
markable-looking man enter the room and 
take a seat among us. He listened with 
fixed attention to our exercises, and his 
countenance expressed such genuine interest 
that I approached him and suggested that 
he might be willing to say something to the 
children. He accepted the invitation with 
evident pleasure, and coming forward began 
a simple address which at once fascinated 
every little hearer, and hushed the room 
into silence. His language was strikingly 
beautiful and his tones musical with intense 
feeling. The little faces would droop into 
sad conviction as he uttered sentences of 
warning, and would brighten into sunshine 
as he spoke cheerful words of promise. 
Once or twice he attempted to close his re- 
marks, when the imperative shouts of "Go 
on! Oh do go on!" would compel him to 
resume. 

As I look upon the gaunt and sinewy 
frame of the stranger and marked his pow- 
erful head and determined features now 
touched into softness by the impression of 
the moment, I felt an irrepressible curiosity 
to learn something more about li?m, and 
while he was quietly leaving the room I 
15 



begged to know his name. He courteously 
replied: 

" 'I'm Abraham Lincoln from Illinois.' " 

We are too apt to think that these two 
men were more able than we to accomplish 
great things, because they did not have to 
contend with a dual, nature, but not so. 
Whereas Lincoln and the rest of us inherit 
the sins of our foreparents, say to the third 
and fourth generation; Jesus bore the sins 
of the whole world in his own body; was 
tempted in all points the same as we, and 
never did a person have to struggle so hard 
to overcome the powers of evil; but his 
perfect trust in God made him complete 
victor over them all, and won for himself 
the distinction as the only begotten Son of 
God. "Of his death Lincoln said, "All that 
was lost by the fall of Adam was made good 
by the 'Atonement,' all that was lost by 
the fall was made good by the sacrifice." 

Lincoln was a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief, but he was also noted 
for his broad smile and hearty laugh, but 
his Savior exceeded in these extremes, we 
are too prone to dwell on his sorrows and 
forget that it was He that said, "Rejoice 
and be exceedingly glad." 

It is true that they loved the whole hu- 
man race; but did they have a sweetheart? 
Wliy should it be thought strange that this 
young Gallilean, possessing ambitions and 
passions of a normal man, should not crave 
the love and special companionship of the 
young woman who showed Him more love 
and kindness than any other person? Mary 
called Magdalene was with Jesus at the be- 
ginning of his ministry in Galilee, accom- 
panied him on His journeys, and came with 
Him to Jerusalem, where she lived with her 
brother and sister in Bethany, a small vil- 
lage within two miles of Jerusalem. Jesus 
16 



was a frequent and welcome guest at this 
home, and during these visits Mary would 
devote her time to her friend, leaving the 
household duties to her sister at which 
Martha complained and said: "Master 
doest thou not care that my sister hath left 
me to serve alone? bid her therefor that she 
help me." Jesus said: "Martha, Martha, 
thou are careful and troubled about many 
things, but one thing is needful and Mary 
hath chosen that good part, which shall not 
be taken away from her." Sometime after 
the death and resurrection of her brother 
Lazarus, it seems that Mary was put to a 
severe test, she and the disciples, no doubt, 
had held fond hopes that their Master was 
soon to take his place as king of the Jews, 
and that they would share with him the tem- 
poral blessings, but now their hopes were 
all shattered. He was rejected of his own 
people, branded by the Chief Priests as a 
common criminal worthy of death. This 
sentiment grew so strong in Jerusalem that 
Jesus and His disciples had to leave that 
part of the country. 

God tells us in His word, that we should 
not marvel if we see the ministers of Satan 
transforming themselves into angels of 
righteousness. So it is quite probable that 
the crafty priests with their saintly look 
and beautiful words counseled Mary to give 
up the imposter who had deceived her, and 
she heeded, and, like Peter and Judas, turn- 
ed traitor to her Lord. 

. There is no reason to think that her sin 
was of an immoral character. "Possessed 
of seven devils" was a term applied to those 
who turned away from God. 

When Mary realized the mistake she had 
made, she, like Peter, repented of her back- 
sliding and as Jesus (only a few days before 
his death) was feasting in Bethany at a 
17 



Pharisee's house, she brought a very pre- 
cious box of ointment, and, not satisfied to 
annoint the head of Jesus, also anointed his 
feet, and with tears of repentance and loye 
washed His feet, wiping them with the hair 
of her head, and kissed his feet. Jesus free- 
ly forgave all and in referring to her form- 
er devotion said, "She loved much," and 
then said, "Verily I say unto you, where- 
soever this gospel shall be preached 
throughout the whole world, this also that 
she hath done shall be told for a memorial 
of her." 

Mary was near Jesus during His crucifix- 
ion and death, followed His dead body to 
the grave and returned early on that first 
Easter morning with spices, to again anoint 
His body, and stood without the grave 
weeping, and as she weeped, she stooped 
down and looked into the grave and saw 
two angels in white sitting, the one at the 
head and the other at the feet of where the 
body of Jesus had lain, and they said unto 
her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She 
said unto them: "Because they have taken 
away my Lord, and I know not where they 
have lain him," and when she had thus said, 
she turned herself back and saw Jesus 
standing, but knew not that it was Jesus. 
Jesus said unto her: "Woman why weepest 
thou?" She, supposing Him to be the gar- 
dener said unto Him: "Sir, if thou hast 
borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast 
laid Hmi and I will take Him away." Jesus 
said unto her: "Mary!" She turned herself 
and said unto Him: "Rabboni!" which is 
to say "Master." 

Mary was honored by God to be the first 
to see and speak to Jesus after his resurrec- 
tion and the first to tell to the world the 
glad story of their risen Lord. 

Whom could be called Jesus' dearest 
18 



earthly friend other than *Mary, called 
Magdalene f* 

We read of Lincoln's love affair- 

"It is not known precisely when Ann 
Rutledge told her suitor that her heart w^as 
his, but early in 1835 — Lincoln was then 24 
years of age — it was publicly known that 
they w^ere solemnly betrothed. Even then 
the scrupulous maiden waited for the return 
of the absent AlcXamar, that she might be 
formerly released from the obligation to 
him which he had recklessly forfeited. Her 
friends argued with her that she was carry- 
ing her scruples too far, and at last, as 
neither man nor letter came, she permitted 
it to be understood that she would marry 
Abraham Lincoln as soon as his legal stud- 
ies should be completed. 

"That w^as a glorious summer for him; 
the brightest, sweetest, hopefullest he yet 
had known. It was also the fairest time he 
was ever to see; for even now, as the golden 
days came and went, they brought an in- 
creasing shadow on their wings. It was a 
shadow that was not to pass away. Little 
by little came indications that the health of 
Ann Rutledge had suffered under the pro- 
longed strain to which she has been sub- 
jected. Her sensitive nature had been 
strung to too high a tension and the cords 
of her life were beginning to give way. 

"Tihere were those of her friends who said 
that she died of a broken heart, but the doc- 
tors called it "brain fever." 

"On the 25th of August, 1835, just before 
the summer died, she passed away from 
earth. But she never faded from the heart 



_ *For further evidence as regards the iden- 
tity of Martha and Mary called Magdalene, 
send 15c in stamps to E. Rudeen, Y, M. C. 
A., Los Angeles, Calif. 
19 



of Abraham Lincoln. . . . .In her early 
grave was buried the best 'hope he ever 
knew, and the shadow of the great darkness 
was never lifted entirely from him . 

A few days before Ann's death a message 
from her brought her betrothed to her bed- 
side, and they were left alone. No one ever 
knew what passed between them in the end- 
less moments of that last sad farewell; but 
Lincoln left the house with inexpressible 
agony written upon his face. He had been 
to that moment a man of marvelous poise 
and self-control, but the pain he now strug- 
gled with grew deeper and more deep, until, 
when they came and told him she was dead, 
his heart and will, and even =his brain itself, 
gave way. He was utterly without help or 
the hope of possible help in this world or 
beyond it. He was frantic for a time, seem- 
ing even to lose the sense of his own iden- 
tity, and all New Salem said that he was 
insane. He piteously moaned and raved: 

" 'I never can be reconciled to have the 
snow, rain and storms beat upon her 
grave.' " 

"His best friends seemed to have lost 
their influence over him, all but one; for 
Bowling Green . . . managed to entice 
the poor fellow to his own home a short dis- 
tance from the village, there to keep watch 
and ward over him until the fury of 'his sor- 
row should wear away. There were well 
grounded fears lest he might do himself 
some injury, and the watch was vigilantly 
kept. 

"In a few weeks reason again obtained 
the mastery, and it was safe to let him re- 
turn to his studies and his work. He could 
indeed work again, and he could once more 
study law, for there was a kind of relief in 
steady occupation and absorbing toil, but he 
was not, could not ever be, the same man. 
20 



"Lincoln had been fond of poetry from 
boyhood, and had gradually made himself 
familiar with large parts of Shakespeare's 
plays and the works of other great writers. 
He now discovered in a strange collection 
of verses, the one poem which seemed best 
to express the morbid, troubled, sore condi- 
tion of his mind, . . . the lines by Wil- 
liam Knox, beginning: 

'Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be 
proud?' 

"With all his love of fun and frolic, with 
all his wit and humor, with all his laughter 
and anecdotes, Lincoln, from his youth, was 
a person of deep feeling, and there was al- 
ways mingled with his mirth, sadness and 
melancholy. He always associated with the 
memory of Ann Rutledge the plaintive poem 
which in his hours of melancholy he so of- 
ten repeated, and whose familiar first stan- 
zas are as follows: 

'Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be 

proud? 
Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying 
cloud, 
A flash of the lightning, a break of the 
wave, 
He passeth from life to his rest in the 
grave. 

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall 

fade, 
Be scattered around, and together be laid. 
And the young and the old, and the low and 

high 
Shall moulder to dust and together shall 

lie.' 

"Lincoln loved at twilight, or when m 
the country, or in solitude, or when with 
some confidential friend, to repeat this 
21 



poem. I think he exaggerated its merits, 
and I attribute his great love of the poem to 
its association with Ann Rutledge. Several 
years passed after the sad death of Ann 
Rutledge before he married. It is not im- 
possbile that 'his devotion to her memory 
may have been, in part, the cause of so long 
a delay." 

In his thirty-fourth year he married Miss 
Mary Todd, a very beautiful, refined and 
highly cultured young lady, a former sweet- 
heart of Judge Stephen A. Douglas, the 
champion of the pro-slavery cause, an oppo- 
nent to Lincoln in the celebrated joint de- 
bates who also ran against him for the 
Presidency of the United States, but who 
later became one of Lincoln's staunchest 
friends. Lincoln greatly admired this 
young lady who was determined to become 
his wife, but as he compared his humble life 
with that of hers of culture and her love for 
pomp and show, he tried to have her under- 
stand that he would not be able to make her 
happy, which for a time proved to be true. 
During their early married life they lived at 
a boarding house paying the modest sum of 
four dollars per week for the two. Because 
he could not provide the luxuries her heart 
so long and craved for she would often 
say that she had married beneath her. They 
say that the lesson that the Bible so clearly 
teaches that a wife should be in subjection 
to her husband, was as hard for her at first 
to learn as it is for some husbands to learn 
what the Bible teaches that the husband 
shall love his wife even as Christ loved the 
Church. 

The religion of Christ has done more for 
women than anything else in granting to 
them equal rights with men as regards to 
life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness. 
These are the privileges Lincoln referred to 
22 



when he said, "I go for all sharing the privi- 
leges of government, who assist in bearing 
its burdens, by no means excluding women.'* 
Jesus and Lincoln taught both by word and 
deed, what the true relationship between 
master and servant should be. Jesus said, 
"Whosoever among you will be chieft, shal] 
be servant of all." This he demonstrated 
when He, as IMaster, washed His disciples 
feet. Lincoln at the age of twenty-three 
was a candidate for the Illinois State Legis- 
lature. At that time he published a circular 
which concluded as follows: "Every man 
is said to have his peculiar ambition. Wheth- 
er that is true or not, I can say for one, that 
I have no other so great as that of being 
truly esteemed of my fellow-men by ren- 
dering myself worthy of their esteem. How 
far I shall succeed in this is yet to be devel- 
oped. I am young and unknown to many 
of you; I was born and have remained in 
the most humble walks of life. I have no 
wealthy relations or friends to recommend 
me; my case is thrown exclusively upon the 
iridependent voters of the country, and, if 
elected, they will have conferred a favor 
upon me for the which I shall be unremit- 
ting in my labors to compensate. But, if 
the good people in their wisdom see fit to 
keep me in the background, I have been too 
familiar with disappointment to be very 
nuich chagrined." This same spirit re- 
mained wnth him throughout life . Even 
when he became the chief executive of the 
nation he proved himself a servant of the peo- 
ple. The saying that is so common among" 
dishonest people, "A man cannot be honest 
and succeed in business" was proven false 
by the life of Lincoln. He chose for his 
business in life the practice of law, which 
offers the greatest opportunity for dishonest 
gain. Although for years his struggle with 
23 



poverty was painful, indeed, and he could 
have, by sacr.fic :ng principle enjoyed the 
luxuries of life, he was always 'honest and 
reached the highest position and honor. Al- 
though his weekly salary was only $961.60, 
yet his home was the most coveted mansion 
on earth. He also proved that a man does 
not have to indulge in vice in order to hold 
the esteem of his fellow-men. The follow- 
ing reveals his temperate life: 

"Lincoln set out for Washington from 
Ramsdell's Tavern in Springfield early in 
the morning. The only other passenger in the 
stage for a good portion of the distance was 
a Kentuckian, on his way home from Mis- 
souri. Painfully impressed, no doubt, with 
Lincoln's gravity and melancholy, he under- 
took to relieve the general monotony of the 
ride by offering him a chew of tobacco. 
With a plain, 

"No, sir, thank you; I never chew," Lin- 
coln declined, and a long period of silence 
followed. 

"Later in the day the stranger, pulling 
from his pocket a leather-covered case, of- 
fered Lincoln a cigar, which he also politely 
declined on the ground that he never 
smoked. 

"Finally, as they neared the station where 
the horses were to be changed, the Kentuck- 
ian, pouring out a cup of brandy from a 
flask v/hich had lain concealed in his satchel, 
offered it to Lincoln with the remark, 

" 'Well, stranger, seeing you don't smoke 
or chew, perhaps you'll take a little of this 
French brandy. It's a fine article and a 
good appetizer besides.' " 

"His tall and uncommunicative companion 
declined this last and best evidence of Ken- 
tucky hospitality on the same ground as the 
tobacco. When they separated that after- 
noon, the Kentuckian, transferring to an- 
24 



other stage, bound for Louisville, shook 
Lincoln warmly by the hand. 'See here, 
stranger,' he said, good-naturedly, 'you're a 
clever, but strange companion. 1 may never 
see you again, and I don't want to offend 
you, but I want to say this: My experience 
has taught me that a man who has no vices 
has blamed few virtues. Good-day.' 

"Lincoln enjoyed this reminiscence of the 
journey, and took great pleasure in relat- 
ing it." 

Jesus and Lincoln were great conquerors, 
using for their chief weapon the sword of 
the spirit which is love and mercy, and only 
used the metal sword as the last resort in 
defense of the principles of truth. They 
loved peace and hated war more than any 
one else. Yet Lincoln was chief dictator in 
one of the most cruel wars the world has 
ever seen. But it did not begin until the 
enemy had first struck with the sword. 
Then Lincoln only obeyed the command of 
his Master, where He says: "All they that 
take the sword shall perish with the sword." 
Jesus said in reference to wrong doers, 
"Think not that I am come to send peace 
on earth; I am come not to send peace but 
a sword." The Bible says that Jesus at 
times looked on wrong doers in anger and 
said hard and cutting words to them, and 
used violent means to drive them- from the 
temple. We read of Lincoln driving wrong 
doers from the voting place. 

"The exciting canvass of 1840 had come 
to a final issue at the polls. On the line of 
railway then in construction near by, there 
was a large gang of laborers, mostly of the 
'alien' class, whose right to vote had been 
denied, but sustained by the new Supreme 
Court organized under the 'Douglas bill. 
The contractor who employed them was an 
ardent Democrat, and on election day it 
25 



came to the ears of Lincoln that he had 
marched up his battalion of voters and 
taken possession of one of the polling 
places. It was not a question now of 
whether these men should be allowed to 
vote; but that they should refuse honest 
voters access to the ballot-box was not to 
be borne with resignation. With true Ber- 
serker rage he hurried to the scene, faced 
the offenders, and without need of blows — 
drove back the riotous crowd. From the 
statements of Mr. Speed, who gave the sub- 
stance of this account from his own knowl- 
edge, it appears that Lincoln started, cudgel 
in hand, under an impulse to clear the way 
to the polls by force." 

They were great forgivers. Jesus chose 
for his chief apostle St. Paul, who had been 
the greatest persecutor of the Christian 
faith. Lincoln said, "A man has no time to 
spend in quarrels. If any man ceases to at- 
tack me, I never rem-ember the past against 
him." When he became President and was 
to choose men to fill the most important of- 
fices of the nation, he chose some of the 
men who had opposed liim the most. 

Lincoln had an experience similar to that 
of Jesus while in the garden of Gethsemane. 
We read in the Bible, that on the night of 
His betrayal, Jesus and His disciples went to 
the garden of Gethsemane and He said unto 
them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even 
unto death," and he withdrew himself from 
His disciples a short distance, and fell on 
His face and prayed saying, "Father, if 
Thou be willing, remove this cup from me, 
nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be 
done." He was not trying to shirk the 
cross, but He prayed that His awful load 
of sorrow might be lightened, and God in 
His mercy heard His prayer and sent an 
angel to strengthen Him. Lincoln had his 
26 



Gethsemane the night after the battle of 
Chancellorsville. 'We read, 

"bid he ever at an}^ time reel or stagger 
under his burden? Oh, yes, once. He 
could feel a hit or a stab at any time; but 
the things which hurt him, that made him 
suffer, that were slowly killing him, as he 
himself declared, did not interfere with the 
perpetual efficiency of his work. If there 
were hours when despondency came and 
when he doubted the result, ... he did 
not tell anybody; but there was one night 
when his wrestle with despair was long and 
terrible. 

"In the opinion of Edwin M. Stanton, 
Secretary of the Army, concurred in by 
other good judges, the darkest hour of the 
Civil War came in the first week of May, 
1863. The Army of the Potomac, under 
General Hooker, had fought the bloody bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville. The record of their 
dead and wounded told how bravely they 
had fought, but they were defeated, losing 
the field of battle, and seventeen thousand 
men. 

"The country was weary of the long War, 
with its draining taxes of gold and blood. 
Discontent was everywhere raising its head, 
and the opponents of the Lincoln Adminis- 
tration were savage in their denunciations. 
Many of his severest critics were men of 
unquestioned patriotism. The mail desk in 
the Secretary's office at the White House 
was heaped with letters, as if the President 
could read them. He knew their purport 
well enough without reading. He knew of 
the forever vacant places in the hundred 
thousand households before Chancellors- 
ville. If more than a third of each day's 
mail already consisted of measureless de- 
nunciation; if another large part was made 
up of piteous pleas for peace, for a termina- 
27 



tion of the long murder of the Civil War, 
what would it be when tjdings of this last 
slaughter should go out and send back ech- 
oes from the heart-stricken multitude? Had 
not enough been endured, and was there not 
imminent peril, that the country would re- 
fuse to endure any more? This question 
was, perhaps, the darkest element in the 
problem presented to Mr. Lincoln. 

"There were callers at the White House 
on the day on which the news of the defeat 
was brought; but they were not the cus- 
tomary throng. Members of the Senate and 
House came, with gloomy faces; the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet came to consult or to 
condole with the President. 

"There were Army and Navy officers, but 
only such as were sent for. The house was 
as if a funeral were going forward, and 
those who entered or felt it trod softly, as 
people always do around a cofifin, for fear 
they may wake the dead. 

"That night, the last visitors in Lincoln's 
room were Stanton and Halleck. They went 
aw^ay together in silence, at somewhere near 
nine o'clock, and the President was left 
alone. Not another soul was on that floor 
except the one secretary, who was busy 
with the mail in his room across the hall 
from the President's; and the doors of both 
rooms were ajar, for the night was warm. 
The silence was so deep that the ticking of 
a clock would have been noticeable; but an- 
other sound came and that was almost as 
regular and ceaseless. 

"It was the tread of the President's feet 
as he strode slowly back and forth across 
the chamber in which so many Presidents 
of the United States had done their work. 
Was he to be the last of the line? The last 
President of the entire United States? At 
that hour that verv question had been asked 
28 



of him by the battle of Chancellorsville. If 
he had wavered, if he had failed in faith or 
courage or prompt decision, then the nation 
and not the Army of the Potomac would 
have lost its great battle. 

"Ten o'clock came, w^ithout a break in 
the steady march. Eleven o'clock came and 
then another hour of that ceaseless march 
so accustomed the ear to it that when, a 
little after twelve, there was a break of sev- 
eral minutes, the suden silence made one 
put down his letters and listen. 

"The President may have been at his table 
writing, or he may — no one knows or can 
guess; but at the end of the minutes, long 
or short, the tramp began again. Two 
o'clock, and he was walking yet, and when a 
little after three, the secretary's task was 
done and he slipped noiselessly out, he 
turned at the head of the stairs for a mo- 
ment. It was so — the last sound he heard 
as he went down was the footfall in Lin- 
coln's room. 

"The young man had to return early, and 
he was there again before eight o'clock. The 
President's room door was open and he 
went in. There sat Mr. Lincoln eating 
breakfast alone. He had not been out of 
his room; but there was a kind of cheery, 
hopeful, morning light on his face instead 
the funeral battle-cloud of Chancellorsville. 
He had watched all night, but a dawn had 
come, for beside his cup of coffee lay the 
w^ritten draft of his instructions to General 
Hooker to push forward, to fight again. 
There was a decisive battle won that night 
in that long vigil with disaster and despair. 
Only a few weeks later the Army of the 
Potomac fought it over again as desper- 
ately — and they won it — at Gettysburg." 

The following reveals the secret oi his. 
great power: An officer of the Civil War 
29 



bags to give a significant conversation of 
Lincoln's in his presence in July, 1863, in 
Washington, D. C, on the Sunday after the 
Battle of Gettysburg. General Sickles of 
New York had lost a leg on the second day 
at Gettysburg, while in command of the 
Third Corps, and arrived in Washington on 
the Sunday following (July 5th). As a 
member of his staff I called to see him, and 
while there Mr. Lincoln also called, with his 
son, Tad, and remained an hour or more. 
He greeted Sickles very heartily and kindlv, 
of course, and complimented him on his 
stout fight at Gettysburg, and then, after 
inquiring about our killed and wounded gen- 
erally, passed on to the question as to what 
Meade was going to do with his victory. 
They discussed this pro and con at some 
length, Lincoln hoping for great results if 
Meade only pressed Lee actively, but Sickles 
was dubious and diplomatic, as became so 
astute a man. And then, presently. General 
Sickles turned to him, and asked what he 
thought during the Gettysburg campaign, 
and whether he was not anxious about it? 

"Mr. Lincoln gravely replied, no, he was 
not; that some of his Cabinet and many oth- 
ers in Washington were, but that he himself 
had had no fears. General Sickles inquired 
how this was, and seemed curious about it. 
Mr. Lincoln hesitated, but finally replied: 

" 'Well, I will tell you how it was. In the 
pinch of your campaign .up there, when 
everybody seemed panic-stricken, and no- 
body could tell what was going to happen, 
oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I 
went to my room one day and locked the 
door, and got down on my knees before 
Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily 
for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him this 
was His war, and our cause His cause, but 
that we couldn't stand another Fredericks- 
30 



burg or Chancellorsville. And I then and 
there made a solemn vow to Almighty God 
that if He would stand by our boys at Get- 
tysburg I would stand by Him. And He 
did and I will. And after that — I don't know 
how it was and I can't explain it — but soon 
a sweet comfort swept into my soul that 
things w^ould go all right at Gettysburg, and 
that is why I had no fears about you.' " 

"He said this solemnh^ and pathetically, 
as if from the very depths of his heart, and 
both Sickles and I were deeply touched by 
his manner. 

"Presently General Sickles asked him 
what news he had from Vicksburg. He an- 
swered, he had none worth mentioning, but 
that Grant was still "pegging away" down 
there, and he thought a good deal of him as 
a general and wasn't going to remove him, 
though urged to do so. 

"Besides,' he added, 'I have been praying 
over Vicksburg also, and believe our Heav- 
enly Father is going to give us victory there 
too, because we need it, in order to bisect 
the Confederacy and have the Mississippi 
flow unvexed to the sea.' " 

"Of course, he did not know that Vicks- 
burg had already fallen, July 4th, and that a 
gunboat was soon to arrive at Cairo with 
the great news that was to make that 
Fourth of July memorable in history for- 
ever." 

We also read of their triumphal entry. 
Once when Jesus entered Jerusalem He was 
received as a King, for a great multitude 
spread their garments in the way. "Others 
cut down branches from the trees and 
strewed them in the way, and the multitude 
that went before and that followed, cried, 
saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of 
the Lord. Hosanna in the highest." We 
31 



read of Lincoln's strange triumphal entry 
into Richmond, Virginia, the conquered cap- 
ital of the Southern Confederacy: 

"There was a small house on the landing, 
and behind it were some twelve negroes dig- 
ging with spades. _ Their leader was an old 
man . . . He raised himself to an upright 
position as we landed and put his hands up 
to his eyes. Then de dropped his spade and 
sprang forward. 

"Bress de Lord," he said, "dere is de great 
Messiah! I knowed him as soon as I seed 
him. He's been in my heart fo' long yeahs, 
an' he's come at las' to free his chillun from 
deir bondage — Glory, Hallelujah!' And he 
fell on his knees before the President and 
kissed his feet. The others followed his ex- 
ample, and in a minute Mr. Lincoln was 
surrounded by these people, who had treas- 
ured up the recollection of him caught from 
a photograph, and had looked up to him for 
four years as the one who was to lead them 
out of captivity. 

"Mr. Lincoln looked down at the poor 
creatures at his feet; he was much embar- 
rassed at his position. 

"Don't kneel to me," he said, "That is not 
right. You must kneel to God only, and 
thank Him for the liberty you will hereafter 
enjoy. 

"His face was lit up with a divine look as 
he said these words. In his enthusiasm he 
seemed the personification of manly beauty, 
and that sad face of his looked down in 
kindness upon those ignorant blacks. He 
really seemed of another world. 

"It was a minute or two before I could 
get the negroes to rise and leave the Presi- 
dent." 

" 'Yes, Massa,' said the old man . . . 
"Scuseus, sir. We means no disrespec' to 
Mass' Lincoln; we means all love and grati- 
32 



tude.' And then joinino; hands together in a 
ring, they sang a hymn, beginning, 'O, all 
ye people, clap your hands!' 

"The President and all of us listened re- 
spectfully. Four minutes at most had passed 
away since we first landed, when the streets 
were entirely deserted. . . Now the streets 
semed to be suddenly alive with the colored 
race. They seemed to spring from the earth. 
They came tumbling and shouting from over 
the hill and from the water-side, where no 
one was seen as we had passed. 

"The crowd immediately became very op- 
pressive. We needed the Marines to keep 
them off. I ordered twelve of the boat's 
crew to fix bayonets to their rifles and to 
surround the President, all of which was 
quickly done; but the crowd poured in so 
fearfully that I thought we all stood a 
chance of being crushed to death. 

"I now realize the imprudence of landing 
without a large body of Marines; and yet, 
this seemed to me, after all, the fittest way 
for Mr. Lincoln to come among the people 
he had redeemed from bondage. 

"What an ovation he had, to be sure! . . 
They all had their souls in their eyes, and 
I don't think I ever looked upon a scene 
where there were so many passionately 
happy faces. 

"At length the President spoke. He could 
not move for the mass of people — he had to 
do something. 

" 'Aly poor friends,' he said. "You are free 
— free as air. You can cast off the name of 
slave and trample upon it; it will come to 
you no more. Liberty is your birthright. 
God gave it to you as he gave it to others, 
and it is a sin that you have been deprived 
of it for so many years. But you must try 
to deserve this priceless boon. Let the 
world see that you merit it, and are able to 
33 



maintain it by 3'our good works. Don't let 
your joy carry you into excesses. Learn the 
laws and obey them ; obey God's command- 
ments and thank Him for giving you liberty, 
for to Him you owe all things. There, now, 
let me pass on. I have but little time to 
spare. I want to see the Capitol, and must 
return at once to Washington to secure you 
that liberty which you seem to prize so 
highly.' " 

Strange as it may seem Lincoln entered 
the Nation's Capital this time on Palm Sun- 
day, and the next Friday he made the su- 
preme sacrifice, but during these five days 
he experienced the happiest moments of his 
life. The burden of war had been lifted, 
and with great hopes for the future he said: 
"If God gives me four years more to rule 
this country, I believe it will become what 
it ought to be, what its Divine Author in- 
tended it to be; no more a vast plantation 
for breeding human beings for the purpose 
of lust and bondage, but it will become a 
new valley of Jehosaphat, where all nations 
of the earth will assemble together under 
one flag, worshipping a common God, and 
thej^ will celebrate the resurrection of hu- 
man freedom. 

When they had finished their work on 
earth, God called them to their glorious re- 
ward. Hypocrites said of the death of 
Jesus, "Cursed is everyone that dieth on a 
cross." They also said of the death of Lin- 
coln, "Cursed is everyone who dieth in a 
theatre. Lincoln was murdered by blood- 
thirsty men who said they were doing God's 
will. The actual murderers were not the 
men who nailed Jesus to the cross or fired 
the fatal shot at Lincoln but the people who 
instigated the crimes. Lincoln's murder 
took place on Good Friday, 1865, the anni- 
versary of the murder of Jesus his Savior. 
34 



But these two martyrs live in the hearts of 
the people more today than when they were 
as men on earth. The time is coming, ac- 
cording to the Bible, when people like Lin- 
coln, tilled with the spirit of Christ, shall 
govern this world, and it might be well said, 
as of old, through Abraham (Lincoln) shall 
all nations be blessed, and Jesus be crowned 
King and Lord of Lords. 

E. F. RUDEEN. 



Copijriqht 

1919 



35 



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